A Universe of Atoms, An Atom in the Universe

Investigates processes for which no visualizable mechanism can be given, or that seem to violate fundamental physical laws (but do not), or that appear to be well understood but turn out to be subtly devious. This title will be of interest to students of physics and related disciplines as well as professional physicists.

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Approximately 10 years have passed since the publication of And Yet 1 It Moves: Strange Systems and Subtle Questions in Physics. During this time, the book has done very well, being received favorably by both readers and reviewers. The exhaustion of the last printing has given me the opportunity to make revisions. The present volume, updated and expanded by three new chapters containing a total of 17 additional essays on a wide range of questions that I have explored in quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, thermodynamics, general relativity, and astrophysics, has been given a new title to re?ect the broad thematic coverage and a new publisher (Springer-Verlag). The Introduction (The Fire Within) that follows, based on the preface to the original edition, explains fully the purpose and content of this book. I wish to note brie?y here, however, that time and the advance of physics have not dulled the scienti?c relevance of any of the essays. This book, like its predecessor, is not intended to be a popularization, a textbook, or a monograph of any ?eld of physics. Rather, it is a p- sonal account of the scienti?c underpinnings, motivations, lessons, and rami?cations of some of the many fundamental physical problems that have engaged me throughout my career to the present. These are essays that anyone with an interest in contemporary physics can read, although it is certainly the case that the more serious the interest, the more meaningful will be the essays.